In Session » Stephenie Dodsonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics
Tennessee PoliticsMon, 07 Apr 2014 14:51:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6No hard feelingshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/no-hard-feelings/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/no-hard-feelings/#commentsWed, 31 Mar 2010 12:38:26 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=9797A little less than a year after a sometimes nasty Metro Council race, Councilwoman Kristine LaLonde had some kind words on Facebook this morning for her main District 18 rival, Stephenie Dodson (whose campaign supplied most of the nastiness):

“Just wanted to give you a shout-out about the governor’s choice to announce the Race to the Top in Eakin’s library,” LaLonde wrote on Dodson’s “wall.” “Your hard work has made it one of the most beautiful schools in the state:)”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/no-hard-feelings/feed/5A healthy few blocks’ distancehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/a-healthy-few-blocks-distance/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/a-healthy-few-blocks-distance/#commentsTue, 28 Apr 2009 17:47:27 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=3082It’s 54-plus hours and counting until voting ends for the hot and heavy Metro Council District 18 runoff, and both candidates are making election-night party plans.

Stephenie Dodson and supporters will be at Brown’s Diner, 2102 Blair Blvd., while Kristine LaLonde and crew will be at The Dog of Nashville, 2127 Belcourt Ave.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/a-healthy-few-blocks-distance/feed/2LaLonde holds financial advantage in Metro Council racehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/lalonde-holds-financial-advantage-in-metro-council-race/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/lalonde-holds-financial-advantage-in-metro-council-race/#commentsFri, 24 Apr 2009 19:48:06 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=2939Kristine LaLonde, the top vote-getter in the Metro Council District 18 general election last month, had a distinct financial advantage heading into the final days of the runoff campaign.

Through Monday, LaLonde had $12,468.61 on hand, according to a financial disclosure her campaign filed this week. That was $10,000.28 more than Stephenie Dodson’s $2,468.33.

LaLonde did have about $6,500 in outstanding debts and obligations, including $435 for … cupcakes?

The election is Thursday. Early voting ends Saturday at noon at the Davidson County Election Commission, 800 Second Ave. South.

Metro Council District 18 candidate Stephenie Dodson has pulled the old color photo vs. black and white photo trick to go after Kristine LaLonde in her latest mail piece.

Under the two-toned (black and … purple?) headline “The difference is clear,” the ad shows a smiling Dodson in color next to a smiling, black-and-white LaLonde. It’s hard to say LaLonde looks sinister when she’s sporting a toothy grin – the photo is her standard head shot – but there’s no doubt about who the bad candidate is supposed to be. One district resident and LaLonde supporter I know said the technique could backfire on Dodson before the April 30 runoff election.

The text goes on to talk about Dodson’s greater experience living, voting and volunteering in the district and to point out LaLonde’s employment by Belmont University, one of the biggest organizations in the district. The two-page piece comes along on the heels of last week’s Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund mailer about LaLonde’s Belmont job and her ties to lobbyists.

But Dodson said she wasn’t trying to attack “a good lady.”

“It’s a contrast between the two of us,” she said. “We need to distinguish ourselves to get the vote. We tried our hardest to get that message across in a real quick look.”

Dodson, who trailed LaLonde in the general-election voting and fund raising, also said she had nothing to do with the Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund piece.

The tone of the ad is unusual for a council race. But LaLonde, who is planning two mail pieces in the next eight days, declined to criticize Dodson.

“We are running a very positive campaign that means to bring people together to face the challenges that are important to this community,” she said. “That’s the way we’re going to run it to the very last minute. People have reached out to me and expressed their appreciation for how positive I’ve been in this campaign in focusing on the issues and focusing on the future.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/more-district-18-negativity-uh-contrast-from-dodson/feed/1For those who care about moderatorshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/for-those-who-care-about-moderators/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/for-those-who-care-about-moderators/#commentsThu, 16 Apr 2009 15:08:16 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=2569Mary Pat Teague of Vanderbilt University, a co-sponsor of the District 18 Metro Council candidate forum on Sunday, reports that former Vice Mayor Howard Gentry is no longer able to moderate due to a scheduling conflict. State Rep. Brenda Gilmore, another former council member, has agreed to fill in.

The forum starts at 3 p.m. at Eakin Elementary School. Candidates Stephenie Dodson and Kristine LaLonde will field questions – and even ask each other one.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/for-those-who-care-about-moderators/feed/1So much for a positive campaignhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/so-much-for-a-positive-campaign/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/so-much-for-a-positive-campaign/#commentsWed, 15 Apr 2009 18:55:11 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=2529What I believe is the first negative advertising of the District 18 Metro Council campaign (see it here) started hitting voters’ mailboxes this week.

Launched by the Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund, which has endorsed Stephenie Dodson, the piece raises questions about Kristine LaLonde’s employment as a professor by Belmont University, one of the district’s biggest organizations, and tries to tie her to pro-development lobbyists.

“Why is Belmont President Bob Fisher smiling?” the piece asks in text placed next to a picture of this newspaper’s 2008 Tennessean of the Year. “Maybe its because he knows he will have even greater influence over the political process affecting Belmont University if one of his ‘employees’ is elected to the Metro Council.”

Bad punctuation and all, the ad tries to paint LaLonde as a tool of a university that occasionally has done battle with some of its neighbors, most recently in its successful bid to get the city to turn over part of Edgehill’s Rose Park for Belmont athletic fields. (The school plans to spend $6 million on the necessary upgrades to the park, which will remain Metro property.) It also points out that LaLonde’s husband, physician Claudio Mosse, works at Vanderbilt University, another prominent 18th District denizen.

“Both universities regularly lobby members of the Metro Council on a wide variety of issues – zoning, right-of-ways, easements, parking, fees and many others. … On many issues of consequence to property owners and residents in the 18th District, Kristine LaLonde will not be able to represent them.”

Lane Easterly, treasurer of the Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund, said the organization likes LaLonde and thinks she’s capable but is concerned she could have two big conflicts of interest.

“We’re not trying to be negative about her,” Easterly said, adding that his organization had not coordinated the ad with Dodson’s campaign, which came in second in the general election and hasn’t raised as much money as LaLonde’s campaign.

LaLonde has said the citizens of the district would be her first priority and that Belmont doesn’t expect any special treatment on issues before the council. She also has noted that professors by nature don’t always tow a university administration’s party line, and she’s said she’ll recuse herself from some, but not all, Belmont votes.

“I can’t advocate directly for Belmont’s interests,” she said in a phone interview this afternoon.

LaLonde, who got two copies of the piece in her own mail, also said some of the most passionate neighborhood advocates around, including longtime district resident Gene TeSelle, are supporting her. And she noted the endorsements she’s gotten from pro-labor groups like the Service Employees International Union.

“This is a misrepresentation of who I am,” she said of the ad.

Meanwhile, uber-lobbyist James Weaver, one of the big-business advocates mentioned in the ad (though he and his law firm, Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, actually didn’t lobby for the controversial May Town Center project), laughed as he talked about the former councilman he believes was behind the piece.

“It’s good to know John Summers still knows my name,” he said.

I called Summers, another leader of the Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund, when I first heard about the ad, but I got a call back from Easterly instead. Easterly also sent me another, more positive ad in support of Dodson. The runoff election will be held April 30.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/so-much-for-a-positive-campaign/feed/25MNEA expected to endorse LaLondehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/mnea-expected-to-endorse-lalonde/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/mnea-expected-to-endorse-lalonde/#commentsTue, 14 Apr 2009 20:46:09 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=2443The Metro Nashville Education Association, the city’s teachers union, is expected to announce soon that it’s endorsing Kristine LaLonde in the Metro Council District 18 race. LaLonde said MNEA told her on Monday. The union’s office confirmed the choice but said it hasn’t made a formal announcement yet.

MNEA endorsed David Glasgow in the general election. LaLonde and Stephenie Dodson, both of whom are active volunteers in Metro schools, will meet in the April 30 runoff.

Once the commission gets notification that LaLonde has received the letter, she’ll have five days to get her forms in before the commission will start fining her $25 a day. LaLonde received the most votes in the March 26 general election and will face Stephenie Dodson in a runoff on April 30. (Dodson and third-place finisher David Glasgow filed their disclosures on time, but fourth-place finisher John Ray Clemmons also has been delinquent and should get a letter this week, Nixon said.)

LaLonde did not immediately return a phone call or an email seeking comment.

Dodson’s disclosure showed she raised $460 and spent $2,363 between March 16 and March 31, Nixon said. She had $3,859 on hand when the reporting period started and $1,956 when it ended.

LaLonde had $11,544 on hand through March 16, the end of the previous reporting period.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/dodson-lalonde-to-meet-at-candidate-forum-soon/feed/2Metro Council runoff party seasonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/metro-council-runoff-party-season/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/metro-council-runoff-party-season/#commentsMon, 06 Apr 2009 16:25:09 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=2135Each of the remaining Metro Council District 18 candidates has announced a party in the past few days. Kristine LaLonde’s on April 15 is tied to her upcoming 40th birthday, while Stephenie Dodson’s fund raiser Thursday night is pegged to the start of early voting at 8 a.m. Friday for the runoff election.

Each candidate listed a large group of party hosts on her invitation. Here they are for Dodson: